


Now Hiring

by SpaceBlob



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: AU, Betrayal, Gen, Manipulation, More tags to be added, Suffering, Wonderland, it takes place in the suffering game what did you expect?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-23
Updated: 2017-03-23
Packaged: 2018-10-09 15:11:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 867
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10414971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SpaceBlob/pseuds/SpaceBlob
Summary: It's a fic in which Taako is given a different path and he takes it.Aka Taako joins the fashionable wonderland elves.Edit: Not continuing this. Sorry.





	

Chapter 1 - Replace Body 

"For the first time in your life you will simply look normal. You will be plain." Lydia says keeping a fixed smile on her seemingly perfect face.

"Ohhh, that's a faith worse than death if you ask me. But Taako it's your sacrifice to make, bud. Or..." Lydia looked to Edward, losing the smile she had when that word appeared.

"Or what? There's no or." 

Edward looked to Lydia. Breaking the entertainment aspect was never something he liked. "There might be." He put a hand on Lydia's shoulder and the two elves vanished into wisps of black smoke.

Taako was left to think. An unnatural silence filled the room until Merle took a hammer to it, "The hell was that?"

"Not sure," Magnus replied after a pause. "Did we win?" His fake hopeful smile contradicted the lights. They did not change, no progress was made.

"No way." Taako said softly still pondering what to do. His beauty was all he had. His beauty was the only chance he had of becoming a star again.  
He looked to the other boys. They couldn't take two more sacrifices.  
A swear and some black smoke came from his mouth. He could not get rid of the only thing that was entirely his. 

Too much time was passing, or not enough, no one was sure. The silence again formed like ice on a frozen over lake.

As if Taako had zoned out, the elves were back instantly. Their faces seemed different than before. A slight glow in their eyes and a wicked smile. They both leaned over Taako not even looking to the other boys. This was different. 

Edward was the first to speak, "So you could sacrifice that natural sparkle of beauty you have OR you could join us."

"Excuse me?" Taako took a step back just to be pulled right back. 

"There's a job opening. You asked about employment. Nows the time, sweetheart." Lydia put out her hand. A handshake would seal the deal.

"I-uh...listen I..." Taako turned around to see his friends, he found darkness. His team meant something. He couldn't just leave Magnus and Merle. Without being able to see them he looked back the the elves before him.

Edward had a different smile on his face. A voice unlike the performance voice, "We miss having a brother, Taako. If you join us you'll keep you beauty, live forever, never have to worry about running ever again. The stage could be yours again." 

"My stage," he repeated. That's what this was all for. To reclaim what he had. "What about the rest of us?" Again he tried to look back thinking his friends would be there. Only inky blackness.

"Oh, Taako, they don't need you. Another hit and you could be toast. You're pretty face, dead on the ground, never to see an audience again. And let's face it, even if they could heal you again, you'd just be dragging them down. Without you there'd be less suffering on them."

They're right, Taako thought. Magnus and Merle and that damn head could get through this without him. And he could be back where he belonged.

Magnus and Merle yelled to Taako. They promised the elf's words weren't true. They swore that he was worth suffering a little bit more for. Taako was part of the team and if it meant more of their blood on the floor then they'd take it.

It was as if they were yelling at a wrestling event. The one who needed to hear the words would not hear them. They could only hope that the right choice would be made.

Lydia's hand was still stretched out to Taako. "Easier on them. You get back on stage. Live forever."

Taako stared at that gloved hand. 

"Getting to be with us. Ones who understand you. We could be beautiful. You will make us beautiful." Edward added trying to get to Taako. Things would be so much better with a third.

Taako took the hand. A firm shake and they vanished with him. 

Wide eyes from his past teammates. Magnus falling to his knees. This place had taken a lot. Taking taako was too much. 

The lights on the screen lit up green. They could continue. They needed a moment. 

"Should I...read a verse?" Merle said softly. Every single word formed in the room would be a puff a darkness. "I mean he's not dead...so," a pause, a realization, "He betrayed us."

"No. No, you can't say that. He did it for us."

"For us? Magnus, they lied to him! Nothing will get better. We're stuck in here. Remember 'inescapable death trap'? It was slim getting out with him. There's no way we're getting out of here without him."

"You heard what they said to him. He made a choice. It's done." Magnus hated his own words.

\-- 

Darkness. Pure black. Then suddenly brightness. Unnatural white light. It took Taako's eyes a second to adjust to the sudden switch of extremes. 

"Welcome."

A room. Bright. Stylish. Comfortable looking couches. Monitors showing what he could only image was others suffering just as he had. A certain scent. A new home.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first fic I've ever written so hopefully it's okay.
> 
> Edit: Not continuing this. Sorry.


End file.
